Retreat
by Inkfamy
Summary: What happened in 'Retreat' between Optimus giving the Autobots the order to leave Earth and them actually leaving? How do the humans cope in the bits we're not shown? - Cybertron; oneshot -


RE: Right, I am really pissed off at my folks right now, and when I get pissed

off, you get angst and a TF gets tortured. Enjoy the suffering of this

particular robot.

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Disclaimer: DO YOU THINK I FKING WELL OWN TRANSFORMERS?

DO I FKING LOOK LIKE HASBRO? I SHOULD BLOODY

WELL THINK NOT.

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Summary: We are abandoning Earth. Why does every planet we go to fall foul

of Fate? I can hear the kids crying. I can hear Lori asking Colby to

convince us to stay. My conscience is going to torture me for

eons… What happened between Optimus's order to leave Earth

and the Autobots actually starting to leave?

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**Retreat**

Every planet we go to… every single one… there's no exception… we had had to abandon Cybertron, and now we have to abandon our new home.

I scuff my feet along the metal floor of the base – an unnatural thing for me to do – and sigh, I can still hear the sound of Lori and Bud crying, it's echoing around my head like a foghorn in an underpass.

I've never seen them cry before, and it's my fault that the Autobots had to see it. Even the minicons cried. I don't think I've ever seen a minicon cry. And it's all because I gave the order to leave Earth.

Every planet we go to, death and destruction follow, there isn't a planet we've been to where someone hasn't been hurt, normally it was by the Decepticons, but this time it's my fault.

My fault that Lori's crying in Colby's arms and Bud's walking along behind me, trying to wipe the tears away and act like it's all OK. I can still feel his arms on my leg as he tried to hug me.

The way Colby dealt with it was almost worse than the tears and sobs from the others. He just gave me a hurt look, like a kicked cyber-puppy, I could see the injured look in his eyes and he didn't say anything. He just looked at Bud clutching my leg, up at my face then turned around and tried to comfort Lori. The image of his face is still in my processor. I know it'll haunt me forever.

Jet Fire just gave the order to the civilian Autobots all over Earth. I can feel everyone's optics on me while I walk.

It would have been easier if we just told the kids to go away, that the war was too dangerous for us to involve youngsters. I know I'll regret this.

Bud's started crying again, I can hear his gasps for breath; he's trying to stay quiet so that I won't hear him. How can these humans be so emotionally strong?

There are footsteps behind me. One of the kids is running to catch up with me. It's probably Colby.

Yes. I was right. The human runs around in front of me and folds his arms, fixing me with a death glare.

"How could you!" he shouts. "You're just going to leave us behind? That's so pathetic! If we were in your position then we wouldn't abandon you! You took us to different planets and showed us loads of new things, and now you're just expecting us to sit back, let you go, forget about everything that happened and lead a normal life? You just expect us to let you all go and not mind that you'll never get in contact?"

Everyone seemed surprised at the sudden outburst, even Colby looked shocked at the words streaming out of his mouth, but he couldn't stop the flow, I could see even his eyes blurring from the tears that were gathering.

"You're just leaving us?" he continued. "What d'you think'll happen then, even if you get away safely? What's to stop Starscream from catching us and forcing you to give up the Omega Lock anyway? Who's going to stop him from doing that now? We're just sitting ducks waiting to be shot now! I tell you what, let's save time and we can all just go and give ourselves up as hostages to the Decepticons right now and then it'll save valuable time all round?"

Lori walks up to Colby and rests a hand on his arm. She whispers something to him that I can't make out and he nods. He gives me another look then walks over to Bud with Lori.

I stand in shock. It wasn't just the normally so placid human's outburst that had surprised me. It was the hateful gleam that I caught dancing in his eyes that really gets me spooked. There was a kind of fire burning deep inside those blue eyes. The kind of anger that would stop even Thundercracker and make him think twice about going any further.

I watch them until I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to see Landmine. The old mech nods his head sadly and walks away, pulling slightly on my shoulder, indicating that I should follow.

When we're out of earshot, he finally speaks.

"You mustn't feel too hurt Optimus," he consoles. "The lad's just upset that we're leaving. I think the way he tries to cover his sadness and help the other two is by getting angry."

I nod and walk out of the base. Even though Colby thinks I'm doing this just for the Omega Lock, he's wrong. I'm doing this to save his home too. Not just the Earth, but his town too. If we fight with the Decepticons here then there's a risk that the human settlement will be destroyed. I hope he understands one day.

The humans walk out.

"We'll wait for E-Back then we'll leave. Vector Prime, a space bridge please," I say.

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I see the helicopter flying towards us and sigh inwardly. The men see me and transform ready to leave.

I walk past the kids and pause to say something, but for once in my life I've run out of words. All I can do is sigh again, transform and roll up the space bridge.

"I'll miss you," I hear Jolt say, before he transforms and flies up after us.

I try to block out Colby's spark-wrenching cry. I know that will haunt me too. Sadly we roll up the space bridge towards the portal, I feel like I'm leaving part of my team behind. I feel like I've made the worst decision ever.

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RE: Well, there's some Prime angst for you. As you will know if you read my

profile or have read any of my other stories where I happen to have

mentioned it, I'm not a great Prime fan. He'd be great if he wasn't so

honourable and his speeches weren't so dull. REVIEW OR I WILL USE

THIS IMAGINARY GRENADE LAUNCHER (which is actually my

paintball/watergun of doom) AND GET YOU COVERED IN PAINT

AND WATER! AND THE PAINT IS NON-WASHABLE!

MWAHAHAHAHAHA!

DD: Her badge is right. /holds up schoolbag with five badges on and points to

one/

Badge: Psycho bitch from Hell!

RE: WANNA MAKE SOMETHING OF IT!

DD/sweatdrops/ And she's past 'that time of the month' so what's her

problem?

RE: MY PROBLEM? YOU WANNA KNOW MY FKING PROBLEM?

MY PROBLEM IS THAT I WAS ON A GREAT HIGH TODAY AT

SCHOOL AN THEN THAT STUPID BITCH SO-CALLED FRIEND OF

MINE REBECCA AND THAT TOSSER GREIG WENT AND

TALKED TO DANIEL WHO HAS A CRUSH ON ME AND I HATE

AND STARES AT ME ALL THE TIME AND ASKED HIM IF HE

FANCIED ME AND HE SAID YES AND ASKED WHY I WAS

AVOIDING HIM AND BEX AND GREIG TRIED TO GET ME INTO

A STUPID GAME OF 'SENDING A MESSENGER BACK AMD

FORTH INSTEAD OF HAVING THE GUTS TO GO AND TALK TO

SOMEONE YOURSELF' AND I TOLD THEM TO TELL HIM TO

FCK OFF AND THEN WHEN WE HAD A FKING FIREDRILL

THAT BASTARD DANIEL SENT GREIG TO FKING ASK ME

WHY I WAS FKING AVOIDING HIM AND THAT BOURGHT ME

OFF MY HIGH AND MY FOLKS HAVE BEEN PISSING ME OFF

FOR 3 DAYS. THAT IS MY FKING PROBLEM!

DD: Sorry you had to witness that… she's kinda pissed off, don't be

judgemental, if you got parents or if you've ever had an annoying lover

you'll know exactly how she feels. Please review? If there are lots of

reviews then there might me another chapter… if RE gets pissed off again.

RE: WHAT THE FK WAS THAT?


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